Sprinkler for extinguishing fires.



G. F. HALL.

SPRINKLER FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES APPLICATION rILnn MAY 1. 190a.

ATTORNEY RS 50.. wasmucrazv, n. c.

PATENTED OUT. 15. .1907.

UNITED STATES PATENT @EETCE.

SPRINKLER FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 15, 1907.

Application filed Kay 1, 1906. Serial No. 314,6 85.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Fnnnn'aro HALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sprinklers for Extinguishing Fires, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

Like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a cross section of the sprinkler pipe or tube.

' Hy invention relates to automatic devices for the sprinkler pipes of a fire extinguisher system, and especially to such devices provided with easily fusible means, which normally prevents the flow of water from said pipes, but which, when melted by the external atmosphere when the latter has attained an abnormally heated condition, allows the discharge of water from said pipes.

The invention also relates to means for preventing the clogging of the discharging apertures of the sprinkler pipe by sediment or foreign matter.

This device is especially useful in connection with the improved fire shutters, shown and described in my pending application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 256,486. but it is also applicable to the fire-extinguishing sprinkler pipes in common use.

In the drawings my improved device is shown as contained in the box or casing of a fire-shutter, as in my said pending application for Letters Patent.

B is the box or casing to contain said fire-shutter. It is extended at one end somewhat beyond the line of the jambs of the wall opening, over which it is placed, the line of the jamb being designated as 1.

C is a guide for directing the vertical movement of the shutter, a portion of which shutter extends loosely into said guide.

The water-supply pipe W enters the extended end of the box or casing B and the sprinkler device is attached to said pipe in the upper part of the box or case. This device comprises the check, stop, or valve f, whichis attached to the water-supply pipe W. The interior mechanism of this valve is like the valve, check, or roundway stop, which is in common use, ex cept that the plug or clapper, which controls the admission of the water, is so constructed that from a closed position it may be opened fully by a quarterturn of the valve stem 0. The valve stem 0 projects downward through the valve casing and turns loosely in its bearings. An arm or lever g is mounted on the valve stem 0 and is shown in closed position in Fig. 2. The lever 9 near its outer end is provided with a notch. The valve case has a projection or boss n, integral therewith or cast thereon, and is also provided withl ajlnotch, as shown in Fig. 2. A clip m is formed discharge of water.

of two separate strips of metal soldered together, one of which is shouldered to take the thrust of the other. This clip m is wedged in between the notches of the valve arm g and projection 11, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. When the parts are in the position shown in said figures the valve is seated and closed and thus holds in check the water or air in the inlet pipe W, but if the clip m is withdrawn or released, the pressure in said inlet pipe W forces the valve open one quarter-turn. The two portions of the wedge or clip m are held together bya solder or metal, which will fuse when subjected to a flame or heated air at a comparatively low temperature. When the portions of the clip in are so released from each other, they separate and fall apart. The valve is thus liberated, and the pressure of the water or air in the pipe W opens the valve, and water flows to and through the sprinkler W.

Fig. 3 shows a transverse section of the sprinkler tube W. In this figure r is one of the perforations for the The tube W is longitudinally divided into two compartments or chambers X and Z by means of a screen or partiton s, which has perfora tions smaller than those of the tube W shown at 1*, but the total area of the openings in said screen or partition exceeds the total area of the perforations in the tube. The water liberated by the valve first flows into the chamber Z, then through the screen s and into the chamber X, and then is discharged through the perforations r of the tube W. It is well known that much sediment and rust scales form in sprinkler pipes, for the reason that they remain unused for years, and if such matter were allowed to enter a perforated tube, it would soon fill up and clog the outlets. To guard against this result and to assure a constant and steady flow of water the perforated screen or partition 8 is efficient, as each of its openings is smaller than either of the perforations r of the tube W, and thus the foreign particles and matter are prevented from passing from the chamber X to clog the perforations 1", but such deposit as may be collected by the screen 3 will not prevent a full quantity of water from reaching said perforations 7", because the total area of the openings in the screen s is, as already stated, much greater than the total area of the discharge openings or perforations r of the tube W. The water so discharged may, if desired, be previously charged with any suitable chemical ingredients to increase its fire-extinguishing ability.

The method above described of preventing the clogging of the discharge openings or outlets of sprinkler pipes is applicable to devices which may be somewhat different in form from that shown and described in the drawings and specification, but any similar device is within the scope of my invention, if it has its interior divided into separate compartments by the introduction or interposition of a screen or screens so placed that all the water must pass through such screen or screens before reaching the discharge openings or outlets, each of the openings of such screen or screens beingsmaller than any of the discharge openings or outlets, and the total area of said-screen perforations exceeding the total area of the discharge openings or outlets.\

I claim as a novel and useful invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The improved sprinkler device herein described, con sisting of a water supply pipe, a metal tube having perforations along one sidethereof. and a screen dividing said tube-into two distinct separate longitudinal chambers or spaces and having perforations. each of said last named perforations bein less in area than each of the first named perforations, which screen is located between the dis charging portion of said pipe and the first named perforations, the total area of the second named perforations exceeding the total area of the first named perforations.

2. In a sprinkler device, the combination of a sprinkler tube having perforations, a perforated screen within said tube and extending longitudinally thereof and dividing" it into upper and lower compartments, :1 water supply pipe entering said tube in the upper compartment thereof. a valve in said water supply pipe adapted normally to allow water to ilow'froni said last named pipe, and fusible means arranged normally to hold said valve in a closed position but automatically separable or detachable when subjected to a sufiicient heat and adapted to allow when so separated or detached theflow of water through said supply pipe into and through the sprinkler tube.

3. In a sprinkler device, the combination of a valve case having a notched seat, a valve mounted in said case and having a valve stem, a lever mounted at one end upon the valve stem and provided with a notch near its outer end, two metallic strips soldered together by an easily fusible solder. one of which has a shoulder and is engaged in said valve seat and the other of which is engaged at one end with said shoulder and with the notch of the valve stem at the opposite end, a water supply pipe enter in; the valve case at one end thereof, and a sprinkler pipe opening from the valve case at the opposite end thereof and provided with discharging apertures.

4. The combination of a sprinkler terminal having a plurality of apertures spaced longitudinally along one side thereof and adapted to discharge a fluid outwardly in'a plurality of separately directed streams. means for con veying said fluid into the interior of said device, and a perforated screen longitudinally placed within the device so that all fluid entering said device must pass through the screen on its way to the discharging apertures, each of the perforations in the screen being less in area than any one of said discharging apertures and the total area of all said screen apertures exceeding the total area of all said discharging apertures.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE FREDERIC HALL.

Witnesses lVILLIAM' C. Kenton. EDGAR L. BownN. 

